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Post by ScrappyJac on Jul 14, 2014 19:36:01 GMT
I have been pondering lately. I spend all this time documenting our life. It is just DH & I...and the only time he really looks at pages is when I show him new ones. So, the thought has crossed my mind lately...why am I doing this?? Why am I spending all this time on albums that just sit on the shelf?? I know a lot of people scrap for the creative outlet, but for me, it is more about the documentation and getting pictures off the hard drive. I have other crafts that satisfy the creative aspect for me. Has anyone else ever felt this way? It sort of caught me off guard because I have scrapped in some form or fashion since middle school. It is hard for me to imagine NOT documenting life this way.
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Post by berta147 on Jul 14, 2014 19:51:45 GMT
I scrap just for me. I have 3 sons and my hubby, and they enjoy looking at my albums but it is not a priority for them .
I enjoy many crafts, not just scrapping, for my creative outlet.
I scrap so I will have these memories written down, because I know many things will be forgotten by me and I hope when I am older they will comfort me. What happens to the albums after I am gone, I do not worry about that.
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Post by ScrappyJac on Jul 14, 2014 19:57:09 GMT
Thanks, berta! This is good perspective. Right now, I am not at the stage of forgetting....but you are right, as time passes it will get more difficult.
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kitbop
Pearl Clutcher
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Post by kitbop on Jul 14, 2014 19:58:06 GMT
How do you feel about your work from middle school? I would imagine it's pretty cool to look back, remember things, and realize how much life has changed. That is still going to happen to you over the next ten, twenty years. You'll look back on your current scrapbooks and think "wow, I'd forgotten" or "wow, how life changes". (Or, "remember that selfie craze?"  ) My DH also only looks at my pages right after I've done them. But if I pull out an album from a few years back he LOVES looking through and remembering things. Men's memories are WAY WAY WORSE than ours. Sorry, but your DH is going to need the help  But you are probably going to have to put the album in his lap, or look through together! I really feel our books only get "valuable" when they are a couple of years old and those memories would fade if we hadn't preserved them. Current pages aren't nearly as special!!! Kirsten |
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Post by carolynhasacat on Jul 14, 2014 20:20:07 GMT
You never know what life is going to throw your way. I thought I had settled in my first career when life took me in another direction completely. I wish so much that I had scrapbooks from the time before I got to my current job, location and family status. I've forgotten so much, and I'm a completely different person now. I wish I had documented the journey to how I got here and some of the stories of DH & my early life together.
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tiffanytwisted
Pearl Clutcher
you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave
Posts: 4,538
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Post by tiffanytwisted on Jul 14, 2014 20:56:10 GMT
I have this thought quite often. I do have kids, but they are both boys and I can't help but wonder if their wives are going to want my eleventy billion scrapbooks. This is my only creative outlet, so I 'justify' it that way. Just because your husband isn't that interested now doesn't mean he won't be some day. I find that mine (and my kids) really don't care about the artistic quality of my pages, but are more interested in the story they tell and the memory they preserve. That's why I journal a lot. And who knows who your scrapbooks may get passed down to? They may be very interested to see what your life was like 'back in the day'.  |
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AerynK
Full Member
Posts: 262
Location: CA
Jul 7, 2014 19:51:37 GMT
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Post by AerynK on Jul 14, 2014 21:30:03 GMT
I'm in the exact same position, especially considering I just spent a small fortune on scrapbook albums now that I have a nice Expedit in my nice clean living room to put them on! It's just DH and I, always will be. We have a niece, but I doubt that anyone is going to inherit anything from us. I was along the same lines of thinking as you and I think that's why I have cut way back on scrapbooking and focused on weekly PL instead. It gets more of the documentation that I crave, along with visuals too, but it cuts down on the BS. One photo (which is usually all I have) doesn't have to take up a 12x12. It fills a space on that 12x12 with journalling and other photos from that work just nicely. I'm only scrapbooking for larger event things now, for the most part. Something I really have something to say about. I just have to keep remembering this when I buy paper. No need to get a ton, when I'm not scrapbooking and I get PL cards from kits! In the end though, I scrapbook for me. I love looking through my 2014 album, seeing when we got our online video game and got really into it together, when we started re-doing our living room, watched the seasons change, stuff like that, but in a smaller form. Not 50 layouts of each of these events, just smaller, weekly synopsis pages. It's my hope to be able to do this for every year. One page a week, 52 pages to an album, and call it done instead of a ton of layouts. This might mean dismantling things, especially layouts I never liked in the first place, but them's the breaks! |
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Post by myboysnme on Jul 14, 2014 21:56:18 GMT
I wish I knew that future generations would enjoy my scrapbooks, but you know, maybe a great niece or unknown relative not even born yet will enjoy them. Maybe they'll end up in a flea market and someone will enjoy them.
My 20 year old recently asked for his baseball albums. He has 3 college baseball albums, and 4 baseball albums from when he was growing up. He does not care at all about the products that make it a scrapbook but he loves to see himself, and reminisce about a fun time in his life.
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GiantsFan
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Jun 27, 2014 14:44:56 GMT
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Post by GiantsFan on Jul 14, 2014 22:10:48 GMT
I know what you mean. I don't have kids either. But I'm doing this because I want to. Also my plan is that when DH and I are at the old folks home and can't travel anymore we can look through the pages and say "Remember that?" And reminisce and laugh about those times. So really I'm doing this for my future.
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Post by amandad74 on Jul 14, 2014 22:19:24 GMT
I have this thought quite often. I do have kids, but they are both boys and I can't help but wonder if their wives are going to want my eleventy billion scrapbooks. This is my only creative outlet, so I 'justify' it that way. Just because your husband isn't that interested now doesn't mean he won't be some day. I find that mine (and my kids) really don't care about the artistic quality of my pages, but are more interested in the story they tell and the memory they preserve. That's why I journal a lot. And who knows who your scrapbooks may get passed down to? They may be very interested to see what your life was like 'back in the day'. What she said! I scrap for me.  |
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Post by justcindy on Jul 14, 2014 23:58:33 GMT
so weird that you bring this up because I was having the same thoughts as I was stressing over the details of a page from a vacation two years ago. I think I get caught up a bit TOO much in the creative outlet part....I want to like the way my layouts look, from my current, creative outlet perspective, but as others have mentioned, that's not what makes my family pull albums off the shelf to look through. It's the memories, the stories. Remembering how much it rained the day we snorkeled, but we didn't let it stop us and we had a blast. Not what size the heart die cuts were, LOL. Do you enjoy the process? That's enough reason to do it right there. Why do we go to a movie? It's over in a couple hours. Why go on a vacation? It's over in a few days. It's the memories of the adventure, the special-to-us-only moments, that's why. And that's why we scrapbook. To re-live those special to us moments any time we want.  Our hobby is two fold: we get to enjoy actually creating the album in the moment, but it's a lasting thing that we can come back to in years to come and enjoy it all over again. |
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Post by redshoes on Jul 15, 2014 0:28:27 GMT
Even if you're the only one that ever goes back to look at your albums in the future, it's still worth it, right?? no matter the reason you scrap now, there will be benefit later, whether it's for yourself or others.
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Post by LisaDV on Jul 15, 2014 2:51:44 GMT
I scrapbook for me and my husband appreciates the pages that I do. He also never gets a book out and looks at it. The kids do. So this past winter, we had several outings and I showed him the pages as I was working on them. He asked if I could also document them in a photo book. Come to find out, he's scared to take the scrapbook albums out by himself in case he were to ruin something. Even though I explained the kids take them out all the time, he just isn't comfortable. Thinking of leaving one out on display and maybe he'd look through it that way. Maybe your husband fears messing up your hard work. just a thought. Regardless if it makes you happy that's all that matters.
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Post by crazy4scraps on Jul 15, 2014 3:09:14 GMT
DH and I spent decades together before deciding to have a child, so a big part of "our story" was before she came along. She LOVES looking at her "stories" so I know down the road she will really enjoy having the albums I make. I had a couple of really special aunts that were a huge part of my life growing up, and neither one had any kids of their own but they had fascinating lives. I would have loved having scrapbooks that documented their journey. Even my own mom had a very interesting life and we loved hearing all the stories she told us about what things were like when she was young. Now they are all gone and many of their life stories died with them. Everyone has a story that's worth telling. You just never know who will be impacted by it. |
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Deleted
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Jun 2, 2024 10:11:09 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2014 5:41:31 GMT
I hope whoever cleans out my house knows a good recycling program. Because all of this paper is going back to nature someday. But as long as I'm here, and it's here, I'm scrapping. My own creative outlet is worthy of the supplies.
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Chinagirl828
Drama Llama
Melbourne, Australia
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Jun 28, 2014 6:28:53 GMT
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Post by Chinagirl828 on Jul 15, 2014 10:26:28 GMT
I scrap just for me (no kids, and no plans to change that). As others have said, I assume there will come a time when I can no longer remember the details of my life and hopefully my albums will help fill in those blanks. I have no idea if any of my siblings will want my albums after I'm gone but ultimately they bring me so much joy now.
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Post by miominmio on Jul 15, 2014 10:42:04 GMT
I'm married, and have two kids, but I doubt they'll ever want the scrapbooks. The pictures? Maybe.
What I have come to realize, is that I scrap for me. Not only do I enjoy the actual process (from buying scrapbooking stuff to actually create) but I enjoy looking thru albums. As long as I enjoy it. i will keep on doing it.
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scrappington
Pearl Clutcher
in Canada
Posts: 3,139
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Post by scrappington on Jul 15, 2014 11:21:00 GMT
Its part of who you are. You have done this for years. Can you give it up, I'm sure you could if you really wanted to. But will you regret it later. Do you enjoy going thru your books? If you answered yes , then right there it is worth it. I don't really think our hobby's are for others. They are our hobby's.
And to the person you mentioned seeing their scrapbooks in yard sales later....I so wanted to purchase a scrapbook I found in an antique shop, at the time it was just so expensive. It was such an interesting piece of history and such.
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Post by love2scrap on Jul 15, 2014 12:16:25 GMT
I have been pondering lately. I spend all this time documenting our life. It is just DH & I...and the only time he really looks at pages is when I show him new ones. So, the thought has crossed my mind lately...why am I doing this?? Why am I spending all this time on albums that just sit on the shelf?? I know a lot of people scrap for the creative outlet, but for me, it is more about the documentation and getting pictures off the hard drive. I have other crafts that satisfy the creative aspect for me. Has anyone else ever felt this way? It sort of caught me off guard because I have scrapped in some form or fashion since middle school. It is hard for me to imagine NOT documenting life this way. It's just my DH & I and I've been scrapping for over 10 years. 1. I absolutely love doing it. A creative outlet. 2. My life documented matters to me. My MIL has Alzheimer's and I see how sad it is to not remember...... 3. Someone outside of my circle may find my scrapbooks when I am gone and see it as a historical piece of the time that I lived in..... |
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Post by ScrappyJac on Jul 15, 2014 13:31:21 GMT
Thanks for all the wonderful, thoughtful replies! You all are right, of course. There are lots of reasons that I (and we) spend time on this wonderful hobby. Thanks for the reminder!
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tiffanytwisted
Pearl Clutcher
you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave
Posts: 4,538
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Post by tiffanytwisted on Jul 15, 2014 14:59:30 GMT
so weird that you bring this up because I was having the same thoughts as I was stressing over the details of a page from a vacation two years ago. I think I get caught up a bit TOO much in the creative outlet part....I want to like the way my layouts look, from my current, creative outlet perspective, but as others have mentioned, that's not what makes my family pull albums off the shelf to look through. It's the memories, the stories. Remembering how much it rained the day we snorkeled, but we didn't let it stop us and we had a blast. Not what size the heart die cuts were, LOL. Do you enjoy the process? That's enough reason to do it right there. Why do we go to a movie? It's over in a couple hours. Why go on a vacation? It's over in a few days. It's the memories of the adventure, the special-to-us-only moments, that's why. And that's why we scrapbook. To re-live those special to us moments any time we want. Our hobby is two fold: we get to enjoy actually creating the album in the moment, but it's a lasting thing that we can come back to in years to come and enjoy it all over again.  Well put! |
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tiffanytwisted
Pearl Clutcher
you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave
Posts: 4,538
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Post by tiffanytwisted on Jul 15, 2014 15:01:47 GMT
How cute is he! I think leaving one out is a great idea! You can swap them out periodically so he doesn't get bored, lol. I think I may try this myself!
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Post by Florida Cindy on Jul 15, 2014 16:48:12 GMT
I understand what the OP posted. Time creating vs. time appreciated by anyone is far from equal. The process of creating has to be worth it to receive an intrinsic payoff. Right now, it's not that way for the OP. That's okay.
Everyone goes through phases in their lives. Some people have great passion for a certain amount of time. Other people continue it for years. It's just the way we are wired.
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Post by Florida Cindy on Jul 15, 2014 16:49:22 GMT
I have other crafts that satisfy the creative aspect for me. What other crafts satisfy the creative aspect for you? |
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Post by ScrappyJac on Jul 15, 2014 18:59:46 GMT
I dabble in lots of things, but I think the creativity piece comes in with sewing, especially making quilts.
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Post by nesser01 on Jul 15, 2014 19:44:27 GMT
I scrapbook for a few reasons: It is my creative outlet as I don't really enjoy any other craft. Its fun. I also scrap because its therapeutic. I use my smashbook as another form of journaling. I also love documenting the now and what my mindset is and how life is as I know it. I like a story. I've looked at so many picture albums that my mother has and since I was a kid, I always wondered what people were thinking, why we were there, who everyone is, etc but most of them my parents didn't know much.
I didn't discover scrapbooking until 2005 but I knew right away that this was perfect for me. Even though I scrap mainly for me, I hope somewhere down the line someone appreciates it. If not its okay. I had fun in the process.
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Post by LisaDV on Jul 16, 2014 15:51:24 GMT
How cute is he! I think leaving one out is a great idea! You can swap them out periodically so he doesn't get bored, lol. I think I may try this myself! I think he's adorable (I may be biased) and a bit nerve racking all at the same time. I hope it works and he gets over his fear. |
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Post by LisaDV on Jul 16, 2014 15:53:58 GMT
I dabble in lots of things, but I think the creativity piece comes in with sewing, especially making quilts. I'm working on my first quilt now. You'd think with mixing pattern papers it'd be a cinch to mix quilt patterns, but it wasn't. But i could totally see really getting into quilt making. |
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But you are probably going to have to put the album in his lap, or look through together!
Our hobby is two fold: we get to enjoy actually creating the album in the moment, but it's a lasting thing that we can come back to in years to come and enjoy it all over again. 
Well put!